(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Good evening, and welcome to "Generation Rising."

I'm your host, Anaridis Rodriguez.

Tonight ,we dive deeper into Providence programs that help boost college access.

And I'm joined by Lamont Gordon, executive director at College Visions, and Nick Figueroa, director at the Brown Collegiate Scholars Program.

Lamont, Nick, welcome.

- Thank you.

- Thank you for being here.

So let's start with what's happening now.

I read this statistic, and it was quite revealing, and it said that about 55% of Providence Public School students enroll in a two year or four year college or university immediately after graduating.

That number's even lower if you're looking at four year institutions.

And according to the Department of Education in Rhode Island, that's compared to 63% in Boston and 81% in New York City.

Why do you think this is happening?

Nick, let's start with you.

- Sure, yeah, I think the process doesn't start early enough for students.

So I think the earlier that students are thinking about college and actually working on that process, the better it will be for them when it comes time to actually get into that journey and apply to schools and so forth.

So I think that's one of the issues.

The other is the guidance counselor caseload, right?

In Providence, I believe, it's about 300, 350 students per counselor, and that just makes it really difficult for that individual to form relationships with those students, particularly because they start working on college applications junior, senior year, mostly senior.

So, I could see those two indicators as having a big impact on how students go on to enroll in post-secondary education.

- And you say that you should be engaging with students earlier, right, - Yes, yeah.

- When they're freshman or a sophomore in high school?

- Yeah, even middle school.

Even middle school.

- Middle school, middle school.

- Yes.

- Lamont, College Visions has been working with students for a long time.

What have you found?

Why is this the case?

- Well, I'll add that I think it's also about creating a college-going culture in our schools, and that's around expectations, both for students themselves, helping students see potential, but also sending messages to students that college is an option, you do have what it takes, and we're here to support you with that.

And so that's sort of the basis of our work at College Visions.

It's not just the mechanics of the application process.

It's really about empowering students and instilling them in them a belief that they have the potential to go to college.

So I think that's a big part of expectations as well.

- Yeah, College Vision's just celebrated its 20th anniversary.

How do you engage with students and work to bridge that gap?

- Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, 20 years we've been at this work, and, you know, our work is very relational.

As Nick mentioned, it's about building relationships with students, particularly when you're working with first generation college students.

It can be a very scary process.

So it's not just about providing information, but helping them, getting to know them, understand their needs and their goals and their families, and sort of meeting them where they are to make sure that we provide the right support.

- I have had the privilege of visiting your College Visions space in downtown, and I love how accessible it is for students.

It's right near the bus stop.

You have technology that's available to them.

It's that part of the program?

I saw that you also do campus visits, and you talk to the families too.

- Yep, absolutely.

So we create a space that's affirming and welcoming for our students so that when when they walk into our space, they can bring their full selves to the process.

And that helps us build those relationships with the students.

And yes, we do everything from the A to Z, how to start the application process, building a college list, and that includes visiting college campuses to actually see and make it concrete what college can be like for them.

- Mm, and, Nick, you are also familiar with College Visions yourself.

What is the typical student that's seeking out help, not only at College Visions, but also at the Collegiate Program?

Can you identify where they come from, what they need?

- Sure, sure.

So for us, the students that are in our program are from Providence Public Schools.

So they have to be in a Providence Public School, middle school going into a PPSD high school.

And, you know, because we have a longer time period to work with students, we actually get to provide academic support.

So we know about proficiency levels in Providence.

The numbers are really low, and they have been for a while in both English Language Arts and Math.

And so our focus is just that.

Our summer programming will have courses, English course.

We'll have an Algebra course as Algebra is the gateway math to success in high school and beyond.

We're also including social emotional development, given that the pandemic just, you know, went into school districts and across the country and just created a huge learning loss, socialization loss.

So we're working with students to build up those skills again.

And I think those are the needs of the kids that are coming into our program.

- Yeah, I got to see some of the video of the students on campus, and it was really nice to see them in that setting.

Tell us, how does the program work?

Families apply, and then a student displaced, and they're allowed to visit Brown University on several occasions.

- And you are referring to College Day at Brown.

Is that- - Collegiate Program.

- Collegiate, because we haven't had students on campus yet.

- Oh, not yet.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Oh, okay, so that must have been something else, yeah.

- Yeah, so our program will run July 8th through August 2nd, and before that, we have orientation on June 8th.

So that's when we'll actually see kids on campus.

But we're excited because the setup is one that simulates what a college experience will be like.

So we're not in one building in one room.

Kids will actually have to leave one space, traverse campus to get to the next space, traverse that to get to the cafeteria.

You know, we'll have youth building opportunities outside, so they'll go to the Quad.

You know, they'll engage in those exercises there.

So, it's really an experience in which they get to really live what the college experience will be like.

In the first two year are commuter in the summer.

The last two years are residential.

- What does that mean?

- So it means that for the last two years, they'll get to live on campus for four weeks, and programming will extend from not just day, but to evening programming as well.

And so it'll be very vibrant.

Brown, at this time of year, during the summer, has over 6,000 high school students on campus.

And these are international kids.

These are domestic students from all over the US.

So what a great experience for exposure for our kids as well.

- How did you get here?

What were the conversations that you were having about how you wanted that experience to be?

- For the Brown program?

- Yeah.

- Yeah, so I think that, well, you might want to talk more about that.

- Yeah.

So, I reached out to Lamont, and being familiar with the organization, we were talking about how we could potentially collaborate.

And I think a lot of that collaboration will happen around advising for students.

But yeah, we're aligned in our work, and I'm sure Lamont would agree, the more college access opportunities that we have for students, the better it is for kids in our community.

- So how does it work?

Do you apply?

Are you selected?

What are you looking for in a student to be able to welcome into the program?

- Yes.

So, like I said, we're trying to simulate the college experience.

So we're currently in the process of making offers to kids to participate in the program.

So they have to apply.

They have to interview.

They have to write an essay.

They need a recommendation from someone in the school building.

So there's a whole process that they go through.

And as you can imagine with eighth graders, you know, we're not tough on them, but we still introduce the process so that they're aware that this is what's going to come down the road for you when you're applying to a college program.

- Yeah.

Lamont, you mentioned earlier the perception of a college education, how it could seem out of reach for a lot of students.

When I hear what students have to go through in order to be able to participate, are those the same things that they're facing when you're meeting with them about how daunting the process can be?

- Absolutely.

And affordability is a big... A lot of students are asking, can I afford college, and making assumptions that they cannot and therefore don't even apply.

So that's addressing that affordability, and financial aid is a big part of the work that we do certainly for students, and their parents are thinking about that issue.

You know, it doesn't help that we have this student debt crisis as we're dealing with as a country with billions of dollars in student debt.

People are questioning whether college is worth it, to take out all these loans.

So we have to sort of address those issues in our conversations with students and their families and to let them know about the opportunities for financial aid, both at school-based financial aid, federal-based financial aid, and other scholarship opportunities.

So that's a big part of the work that we do.

- Yeah.

You talked about the typical student you see at Brown with this particular program coming from Providence, but you work with students all across the state.

What's the typical student you see come to College Visions?

- Yeah, so all of our students are first generation college applicants, which means no one in their family or at least their parents did not go to college.

So that means that they don't have access to the sort of information and resources that you would typically have to navigate the college application process.

So that's the first thing.

Second, they're all from low income families.

Again, that's why financial aid is a big part of the work that we do.

And most of our students are black and Latino, so reflecting the urban school districts in our state.

That said, they're all smart.

They want to go to college, We don't skim the cream of the crop in our program.

We wanna open our doors and sort of select a wide range of students who can be eligible for our program.

So some of our students are gonna be a strong fit for community college, and others are gonna go to Brown University.

And we want to provide that range of opportunities for students because you have lots of students out there who fit those profiles who want to go to college and they need that support.

- I happened to visit College Visions during a very busy afternoon, and it was great to be in there with the energy with all the students who have this huge table in the middle, and they're all talking to each other.

And one of my favorite features were all the flags of all the schools.

So they really do envision and aspire to be part of those communities.

- Right, exactly.

And if you look at our college advisors, they're all first generation students themselves.

Many of them are maybe right outta college themselves.

And so we call it a near peer advising model.

So they see in our advisors themselves, and they can envision what it can be like to go to college.

And yes, part of sort of creating that college-going culture is having the college pennants, going to college campuses, connecting them with professionals and leaders in the community who were also first generation college students as well.

- How do you navigate those obstacles that you mentioned earlier?

How does each organization work to do that?

Nick, why don't we start with you?

- Well, from a financial standpoint, what we try to do or will be trying to do is to work closely with families.

So, we will have financial literacy training opportunities.

We'll talk about financial aid quite a bit.

I think one of the biggest challenges for families is that when a student is a senior, they've applied to an institution, they get in, they're ready to go to their orientation, and the family receives the first bill from that institution.

And there are times where, unfortunately, the parent will say, "Well, you can't go there.

"You know, you have to realign and go somewhere else."

So affordability is a big issue.

Also, really thinking about how parents will be able to afford particularly with any gap that may exist with the student's financial aid and getting everyone to a place where they feel comfortable in the process.

They know what the expectations are by the time the student enrolls at a particular institution.

- Yeah.

What about College Visions, Lamont?

How do you navigate through those obstacles that you mentioned your students are facing when they meet you?

- Yeah, you know, one of the big obstacles this year was the federal financial aid application processes.

Nick was saying earlier, in order to apply for aid at your school, you have to fill out the FAFSA, which is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

The form was...

The whole process was updated this year, and the rollout was really rocky to say the least.

And so literally, there are students today, not just College Visions, but across the country, FAFSA completion is down significantly because students were having trouble completing the application, running into all sorts of roadblocks with the new sort of system.

And therefore, there are still students today who have not learned about their financial aid packages.

So we sort of got ahead of it.

We knew the changes were coming.

We sent our advisors to get training on the new FAFSA so they understood the new form and the new process and how to troubleshoot when issues came up.

So as a result, 100% of our students completed the FAFSA successfully.

There were some issues, but we worked through the issues with the students and their families, and most of our students have gotten their financial aid packages have committed, and we'll be working with the remainder of them over the next few weeks.

- That's wonderful.

- Yeah.

- That is wonderful.

Going back to that point about the number of students who want to go, but then the rate in which they enroll, why do you think Rhode Island is struggling to catch up to those metropolitan cities like Boston and New York that are not too far from us?

I mean, and Boston being such a destination for colleges and universities, as well as Rhode Island.

- Right.

I think, and Nick may have some other thoughts, part of it is structural, as Nick was saying earlier, in terms of the guidance counselor student ratio.

It's not realistic that those guidance counselors can provide every student who says, "I want to go to college" with the support they need to get there.

And then the other thing, just as I was saying earlier, is, you know, you often hear people say that college is not for everyone.

And I think that comment is mostly made when it comes to black and brown students.

And so it's really about expectations.

The reality is by 2030, seven outta 10 jobs will require a post-secondary degree.

So yes, while there are lots of opportunities and jobs that don't require a college degree, we do need students who need a college degree.

And so we wanna make sure that when they say, "I want to go to college," we meet them where they are and provide them support to get there.

- [Anaridis] Yeah, Nick, do you have anything to add to that?

- Well, I think on the other end, looking at student debt, you know, and in some cases where students do have to take out loans, this is where the one-on-one relationship comes in handy because you can explain to the student that taking out a loan is an investment in yourself, right?

But also thinking about, hey, by the time I'm done with my degree, I'm going to owe the national average is, what, just above $40,000 in loans.

Do I really want to do that?

You know, and so having conversations around the importance of investing in self and also navigating the financial aid process with the offices on campus, the financial aid offices is very important.

But I think that's also something now that folks are paying more attention to in terms of the amount of debt that students will have at the end of the process.

- Yeah, so we've talked about how you get the students into college.

Then how do you keep them in college?

Another statistic that was very telling to us here and our producers is that in 2023, an estimated 73% of students drop out within 12 months of first enrolling.

That is a huge number.

- Yeah.

- Are you aware?

Obviously you're aware of it.

How do you navigate that and make sure that your student makes it to graduation?

- Yeah, I think a lot of organizations, college access organizations in the early days were focused just on that access, helping students get into school, which, of course, is a big need.

But I think we quickly realized that students, particularly the students that we're working with, first generation students, the transition and navigating college, they need support when they're there.

So College Visions, part of our work, is helping students get into school.

And then the other part is helping them navigate.

And we work with them all the way through college graduation.

We have probably about two thirds of our students go to college in Rhode Island.

So because they're so close, we actually have advisors who can go onto campus, do office hours, do group meetings, and provide that sort of personalized support throughout, if they run into a financial issue or figuring out which courses to take, all sorts of issues that you can sort of run into when you're in college.

As a result, over 70% of our students graduate within six years, which is probably about three times the average for their peers.

- So you're reversing that.

- Yeah.

- That's wonderful.

- Yeah.

- That is great to hear.

(laughs) I see you both smiling, which is great.

So I saw a video of you, Nick, and you said the future of Providence depends heavily on the students who are in the city's classrooms.

- Yes.

- Why is that?

And it seemed personal when you said that.

Is it personal to you?

Why did you get into this?

- Yeah, it is very personal to me.

When I see students, I see the future of our city.

If I walk into a classroom, I'm looking at a future governor or governors, future mayors, future scientists, so forth.

So I think this work is very important.

For me, I got into this because when I was going through the college process, college access process, I had no one to help me, you know?

And my first stop with CCRI in Warwick, and, you know, the first day I went was to register for class, and this is before the internet.

So, I had to go to a board (Anaridis laughs) and stand in line, pick my class, go to registration, only to be told that class is full.

"You have to go back."

Stand in line again.

And it took the whole day, right?

And to this day, I can't tell you like what made me stay there and go back.

So I know how easy it is for students who don't have someone to support them, someone to guide them along the way to say, "I'm not doing this," right?

And the stakes are too high, right?

Because if you look at the demographics in Providence, the last data that I looked at, it's a minority majority city, right?

And so because of that fact, we need to make sure that we are active participants in Providence economy and in politics in the city, in education in the city, and so forth.

And the best way to do that, I think, is to be able to attain a college degree.

So as Lamont said, you know, the seven outta 10 who will need those degrees, positions to get a meaningful career underway, which then in turn helps you support your community and build your community up.

So it is very personal, yes.

- It seems like that's a very full circle moment for you, having that experience, and now being someone who is a source for other students.

- Thank you.

- Yeah.

Lamont, how is this personal for you?

How did you end up in this college access world?

- Yeah, you know, it's rooted in my own experience as a first generation college graduate.

No one in my family went to college.

Most didn't even graduate from high school.

And so for me, I didn't grow up with the expectation or the model of going to college.

I happened to get a scholarship to go away to boarding school for high school, and that sort of put me on a path to becoming the first in my family to go to college.

So I know from my own experience how transformative education and college can be.

And so, I've devoted my career to creating pathways to higher education for students from underserved communities like mine.

That's particularly true for first generation students, and even more so for black and Latino males.

If you look at higher education, the most underrepresented students are black and Latino males.

And so, this past year we actually started an initiative to address that issue.

We created a program.

It's called the Fellowship, specifically for black and Latino males.

In our first cohort, we have 10 young men who are all juniors in high schools throughout Rhode Island.

The goal is to help them get to and through college, but also to build a cohort of young men who support each other through the process.

- [Anaridis] That's great.

- Recently we took them to Washington DC to meet with Senator Whitehouse and Senator Reed.

They also met with senior officials at the Department of Education including a welcome from Secretary Cardona.

And then they presented at a national conference on our program where they were able to talk about their experience in the program, as well as strategies for getting other young black and Latino males into the college access pipeline.

So creating those opportunities and those pathways and that support for students is critical to the work that we do.

- What was that like for them and for you?

- It was amazing.

There was career exposure.

There was networking.

Many of the leaders that met with were black and Latino males.

So they were able to sort of envision what their future could look like by looking at these folks who were in government, in education, in leadership roles in our country.

So it was pretty an amazing, unique opportunity for them and proud for me.

I'm from Washington DC originally.

So to sort of take them to my hometown and sort of where it all started for me was great.

- That's wonderful.

And all of this is accessible through the College Visions Program?

- It is.

And so we are actually now recruiting for our next cohort as we speak.

So if anyone's interested, they can go to our website to find out how you can apply.

Students start our program as rising juniors or rising seniors in high school.

So please go to our website, find more information, and we'll be sure to get back to you.

- That's wonderful.

Talking about promising pathways, this one appears to be one with Brown University.

This is huge, allowing students to come into your campus, live on campus.

Give us the details.

How can families learn more?

How do they apply?

You have your first cohort starting this summer.

- We do, yes.

Yes, so we will start recruiting again around November.

I expect the application to open up early January.

So, my recommendation would be, as Lamont mentioned his website, to visit the Brown Collegiate Scholars website as well to get more information.

We'll have info sessions that parents can come in person or we can do over Zoom so they can gain more information about the program.

- That's wonderful.

And are there any College Visions students headed there?

Do you know?

- So our students, we work with students later in high school.

So the hope, though, is perhaps, you know, some of the students that Nick is working with, at some point, they'll have interface with the College Visions as well.

- Yeah, 'cause you said you work with them as early as middle school you can try to recruit them.

- That's correct, yes.

- Lastly, before our time runs out, what do you want communities to know about, you know, the work that you're doing out there, and what's your takeaway?

What are you hopeful for?

I'll start with you, Nick.

- Yes, thank you.

Well, I think what's important for communities to know is that there is support, College Visions being one of those organizations, Onward We Learn, ARISE, Youth in Action, Young Voices.

There are a lot of organizations out there that are working with students to help promote college readiness.

And it's a matter of getting plugged into that, particularly early on, as I said, to get the information, the valuable information that they need to assist them through the college access process.

- Yeah, and what are you hopeful for?

- Well, I'm hopeful, particularly for the program that I'm running, that students will be able to increase their proficiencies in both English Language Arts and Math.

We'll be able to increase their attendance.

We'll be able to walk away with some tangible items such as a resume, a cover letter, you know, a mock application, a mock FAFSA form, and parents will be able to walk away with that, that knowledge as well.

The goal is to get all of our kids into post-secondary, and the crucial component about getting them through college as well is something that we will be involved in.

- Hmm.

And, Lamont, what about you?

What are you hopeful for as you move into this next phase, the next 20 years of College Visions?

- Sure.

So what I wanna say to folks in the community, and what I'm hopeful for is that you do have the potential to go to college.

It is attainable, and there is support out there for you.

So Nick just mentioned an array of programs and opportunities for students.

So I would encourage folks to really reach out and take advantage of those opportunities.

I am hopeful that we will make progress and getting more students in the pipeline, creating more opportunity for students, and making sure that we're able to meet those objectives, making sure that 70% of the jobs out there that require a college degree, that we have the students ready to fill those jobs.

- Yeah, thank you so much for the work that you do, and thank you for being with us here tonight.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- We have run out of time.

I would like to thank tonight's guests, Lamont Gordon and Nick Figueroa.

You can watch this episode and all our past episodes anytime at watch.ripbs.org.

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